Not That Brady has first stakes win in Damon Runyon

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - There was a book written about Lisa’s Booby Trap, a filly who was blind in one eye, ran with a clubbed foot, and who was named after her trainer’s wife, who died of cancer.

Perhaps there is more to be written.

On Monday, Not That Brady, the first foal out of Lisa’s Booby Trap, became a stakes winner with a front-running, three-length victory in the Damon Runyon Stakes at Aqueduct. While the race is restricted to New York-breds, Not That Brady may have earned himself a nomination to the Triple Crown with his second straight victory.

“Got to nominate,” part-owner Michael Imperio told co-owner and trainer Rudy Rodriguez after watching the replay. “Triple Crown.”

Not That Brady is by Big Brown, the 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner.

Imperio was fan of Lisa’s Booby Trap - who won her first four career starts including a stakes at Saratoga - by a combined 40 lengths. When he saw this horse in for $50,000 in a maiden claimer at Saratoga, Imperio asked Rodriguez to take a look and see if he was worth claiming. Rodriguez liked what he saw and put in the slip. The two are the owners along with Vincent Vivolo, who races under Lianna Stables.

The first start was a disaster, with Not That Brady breaking poorly and getting beat 80 lengths. Stretched out to a mile for his next start, Not That Brady finished second. On Dec. 8, in another one-mile race, Not That Brady won by 11 1/4 lengths, earning a 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

Though he looked like the lone speed in the Damon Runyon, Not That Brady again broke slow under Reylu Gutierrez. But the apprentice jockey, as per instructions, motivated Not That Brady to make the lead, and he was a half-length in front after an opening quarter in 23.78 seconds.

Not That Brady opened up a 3 1/2-length lead after a half-mile in 47.48 seconds and kept a clear margin the remainder of the way. Pipes, under David Cohen, tried to make it a race in the stretch, but Not That Brady glided away. Piped held off La Fuerza, the 9-5 favorite, for second by a nose. Southern King, Beachside, and Invaluable Will completed the order of finish.

Not That Brady covered the mile in 1:40.68 and returned $6.10 as the 2-1 second choice.

“He’s not the best coming out of the gate, you got to get into him, but he’s a horse that has a lot of heart,” said Gutierrez, who won his second career stakes race. “All credit to him. The more they keep coming the more he keeps running.”

Rodriguez said he has to figure out how to get Not That Brady to break better in his races.

“When he learns to break I think he’s going to be more solid,” Rodriguez said. “Right now, I’m trying to teach him to take dirt behind [horses] and he takes it good in the morning, but sometimes in the afternoon it’s different. You don’t want to give up the break. When he gets himself in a good rhythm, he’s smooth.”

The victory was the second on the card for Rodriguez, fifth in two days, and 115th on this circuit in 2018, second only to Chad Brown.

“I have to thank all the owners and all the help in the barn,” Rodriguez said. “Most of the people around the barn have been with me since Day One. They all put [in] a lot of work and we’re just here for the ride.”